Qassim University won the first National University Football Tournament beating Al-Imam Mohamad Bin Saud University at the Prince Sultan University (PSU) Falcons Stadium here recently. The tournament was the first to be organized by SANCAA (Saudi Arabian National Collegiate Athletes Association), a 15-university association. Dr. Ahmed Al-Yamani, Rector of Prince Sultan University, handed out trophies, medals and plaques to the university representatives who participated in the SANCAA tournament at a ceremony, which was also attended by the board members and founders of the association. King Faisal University, meanwhile, emerged as National Basketball Champion after beating Al-Jubail Industrial College 78-56 at PSU campus last Thursday. The ground-breaking sports initiative was launched in early April under the patronage of Prince Sultan University and organized by SANCAA. The Association provides young Saudi athletes, all over the Kingdom, an opportunity to compete in an official, organized annual championship. SANCAA founders Peter Goward from Australia and Sven Kelly from Germany were pleased with the number of participants who turned up at the inaugural event. The two have handed over the reins of SANCAA to an executive foundation committee, which has voted to make Prince Sultan University the SANCAA head office. The SANCAA aims to stimulate, initiate and improve intercollegiate athletic competition for student-athletes and to promote and develop educational leadership, communication- and problem-solving skills, physical fitness, and athletic excellence within all member institutions of higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. It seeks to foster the spirit of fair-play, sportsmanship, and camaraderie within the student athlete, mutual respect among the athletes and member institutions, and the promotion of the concept that athletics are an integral part of a modern society.
